The face definitely does not fit.
Darren Cave must be aggrieved.
At the age of 28, he goes to his first World Cup as the only specialist midfielder in Ireland’s 31-man squad.
A fullback playing as an inside centre gets injured ahead of the opener and he is replaced by a winger with ambitions to play No.13.
Cave, meanwhile, does not make the matchday 23.
In December 2013, after missing out on the November Series, Cave commented, ‘Sometimes you wonder “Does the face not fit?”‘
His inclusion in Schmidt’s World Cup squad was a surprise but we are back to reality.
Cave was Ireland’s stand-out player in the away win over Wales – scoring one try and setting up another – and has vast experience at 12 and 13 for Ulster.
At Ireland’s team announcement, this afternoon, Schmidt was eager to point out that Fitzgerald has inside centre experience – for him, at Leinster. He said:
“This time four years ago, he was starting at 12 for Leinster.
He has had a fair bit of game time, for me, at 12.
We’ve got a lot of confidence in him playing at 12 or 13.”
Good for you Joe, and hopefully good for Ireland, but why is Cave in the squad? Remember, Schmidt sacrificed a bringing either a third loosehead, tighthead or scrum-half to bring Cave.
At the time, Schmidt said, ‘With the midfield situation that we have, we feel we’ve got enough cover, but it’s a little bit of a manufactured midfield… We wanted to get one specialist midfielder in there who could play 12 or 13. His flexibility and positivity in the environment are real plusses for us.’
One hopes Cave can keep his positivity as his flexibility stands for jack all at the moment.
Perhaps Schmidt views the Ulster centre as Alex Ferguson once viewed Phil Neville at Manchester United – a horse for particular courses.
Neville reveals, in Class of 92, that Ferguson often approached him before a league game and did not tell him he was being dropped.
No, he was being rested for an upcoming cup game or, invariably, a match against Arsenal.
For Cave, his cup final could be Romania at Wembley Stadium next Sunday.
Unless, that is, another manufactured midfielder comes a cropper.
